So much that other than football quarterback Manny Wilkins, Daccord could be most important athlete to his team at ASU.

For the Sun Devils, in just their second full NCAA season, to be competitive, they need high level goaltending virtually every game. Daccord provides that even while facing a barrage of shots in his first season as a full-time college starter.

Daccord isn’t complaining about the 608 shots that already have come his way in 17 games. He’s made 554 saves, second most in the country, for a .911 save percentage that ranks No. 32 nationally. What that essentially translates to it this – without Daccord, low-scoring ASU (2.11 goals per game) would be in a world of hurt and much worse off than its 4-10-4 record.

“We give up a decent amount of shots, which I like,” Daccord said without the slightest hint of kidding around. “I feel like I play better when I get more shots then I can get into a rhythm. That’s not really an issue for me.”

ASU coach Greg Powers believes that the more pucks Daccord sees, the better.

“He’s that kind of goalie,” Powers said. “It helps him find consistency if that makes sense. Our goal is to limit grade A (scoring) opportunities as much as we can because we know he’s going to make some big saves. Right now we trust him to make all the saves he should make.”

That wasn't always the case, even early this season. After a 1-3 start, Powers tried Ryland Pashovitz in goal for the first game at Nebraska-Omaha on Oct. 20. Things did not go well in a 5-1 loss, Daccord returned the next night in a 4-4 tie at Nebraska-Omaha, and he has maintained a grip on the position since.

The 6-3 Daccord, said Powers, is ASU's backbone. "If we're going into the third period consistently with a chance to win, eventually we're going to start to figure out as a young group what it takes to get over that hump."

Like against Princeton on Dec. 9 when the Sun Devils, with Daccord out of the net, scored on a power play with less than a minute remaining then again in overtime for a 4-3 win. Or at Colorado College on Dec. 17 in a 4-4 tie.

ASU is 2-2-2 in last six games going into the Three Rivers Classic against No. 11 Providence on Friday. For Daccord, it means another trip east close to where he grew up near Boston.

It wasn't only hockey for Daccord at North Andover High School or Cushing Academy, a boarding school in Ashburnham, Mass. He also was team captain in soccer, playing defense but not goalie, and tennis. "My mom's from Switzerland, and I grew up watching Roger Federer then I picked tennis up," he said.

Soccer was a safe haven from the pressure of advancing his career in hockey. "I could just go out and not worry about anything," Daccord said. "Not that hockey wasn't fun, but you just want to try to get to the next level. Soccer, I was just out there with my friends having a good time."

There never was a doubt, though, that Daccord's future was in hockey. His father Brian Daccord played professionally in Switzerland for seven years, is a goalie consultant with the Toronto Maple Leafs (who are in Glendale on Thursday to face the Arizona Coyotes) and founded Stop It Goaltending, a training facility in Woburn, Mass.

"Joey is a clone of his dad," said Powers, who played goalie when ASU was a club program. "It's hard not to be. Up in the northeast, Brian's regarded as the authority with goaltending. His ability to break down that position is way over my head.

"Joey is so technically sound it's almost scary. That's because he was almost bred (for hockey) and his dad is who he is."

Brian, though, was smart enough not to force hockey on his son. "It just organically happened," Joey said. "I couldn't tell you when I decided I wanted to be a hockey player. As far as I can remember, I was always a hockey player."

The Ottawa Senators thought enough of Daccord to choose him in the seventh round of the 2015 NHL draft, before his only season in the USHL with the Muskegon Lumberjacks. He already had committed to ASU in January 2015 but wanted a year of junior hockey before coming to college.

Ottawa retains Daccord's rights for three years and are keeping close track of the 21-year-old.

"I'd be hard pressed to imagine losing him after this year," Powers said. "I think coming back for another year would serve him really well because he knows he's going to get to start and get games. That's what I think is most important to kids through their development phases is that they're going to get pucks and see shots."

Daccord, who could have gone to most any established college program, seems content with his part of laying ASU's NCAA foundation.

"It's probably like the ASU basketball players that played here 10, 15 years ago that are watching the team now thinking I worked my butt off for them to be able to do that now," Daccord said. "Being from New England, you look at all these stories (hockey) programs. One day I'm going to be the one that started that tradition at ASU."